GR GT, GR GT3, and Lexus LFA Concept World Premiere

Tokyo, Japan, December 5, 2025―TOYOTA GAZOO Racing and Lexus held the GR GT, GR GT3, and Lexus LFA Concept World Premiere. The event footage is available on YouTube.

Live stream details

Date / Time

Friday, December 5, 11:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. JST

Language

Japanese / English (English interpretation provided)

Toyota Attendees

• Akio Toyoda, Chairman of the Board of Directors (Representative Director)
• Simon Humphries, Operating Officer, Chief Branding Officer

Event detail

Presentation

Presentation by Simon Humphries, Operating Officer, Chief Branding Officer

Good morning, everyone.

Thank you for taking the time and trouble of coming all this way to the Toyota Higashi-Fuji Plant here in Eastern Japan.
Now, originally, this was a press shop.
And as some of you may know, it was the factory where Shoichiro Toyoda and Nakamura Kenya created the first Century in 1967.
The spirit of invention that was born here is now reborn today as the Inventor's Garage of Woven City, a facility for creating the future.

Now today will be a celebration not only of invention but of something that I know we all love: a celebration of the car.
The excitement, the thrill, the love for speed, all things I think, everyone in this room and everyone watching online shares a passion for.

But as with many things in life, a story of strength begins with a story of what is called in Japanese kuyashisa―humiliation.

And I want to tell you about this from two viewpoints.
I have been working as a designer for 36 years, and I can honestly say that as a designer, there is nothing more painful than being told that what you have put your heart and soul into is boring.
Fourteen years ago at Pebble Beach in America, that is exactly what happened when Akio was told on his visit there, "Lexus is boring."
That feeling of humiliation was a turning point, and it became a source of determination.

After that, Akio stood up and made a promise: "No more boring cars."
So when we went to consult with him about how we would present this car at Pebble Beach this year, his answer was very simple:

"Just put it out there and let it speak for itself."

And that is exactly what we did.
With no explanation, we let people form their own opinions.
And I'm very pleased to share that at Pebble Beach this year, not one person said that Lexus was boring!

To be innovative, adventurous, original, to help our customers DISCOVER.... this is what Lexus was born to do.
And with this car, we wanted our customers to discover a new level of sensory immersion.
For the vehicle behind me, this meant big breakthroughs, dramatic proportions, and packaging innovation.
Just look at the stance...that rear view... just beautiful.
And all under 1,200 mm in height.
For any sports car, this is a huge challenge and a huge accomplishment.
And when this car is finally finished, it will answer Akio's last request: to completely redefine the sound of an electric sports car.

We designed this car to really speak for itself, but that's not simply by chance.
Because the Lexus Sports that you see here owes its existence to another story.
And that brings me to the second tale of humiliation―this time, on the race track.

I remember Akio telling me that at Nürburgring 20 years ago, he had an experience that he couldn't forget.
It wasn't about being overtaken; it wasn't about not coming first.
Rather, he could see that other manufacturers were prioritizing racing.
They were using the occasion to nurture not only new technology and new products but also the people who make them.

Camouflaged prototypes of cars never seen before being put through their paces on the world's most unforgiving track.

As a company, Toyota at that time wasn't even trying to build a car capable of racing the Nürburgring.
In fact, we didn't even have a sports car on sale.
So Akio, alongside test driver Naruse-san, not only ended up driving an old Supra but doing so under the alias of Morizo with his own unknown private team, Gazoo Racing.

Every time he yielded to yet another development prototype, it was as if they were saying,
"You guys at Toyota, there's no way you could ever build a car like this!"

Well, that was then. This is now.

So, what do you think about these?

The GR GT and its racecar sibling, the GR GT3, will be joined by the new Lexus LFA Concept here to form the sports car apex for both Lexus and GR.
All from one race-bred platform, true to GR's promise of pushing the limits for better, contributing to the entire Toyota Group.
And all are part of Akio's promise of no more boring cars.

Now, the GT3 category, where the story of these three cars begins, is all about making cars for people who want to win―both professionals and privateer racers.

For everybody, it all starts with speed. Without speed, there is nothing.
For the GR GT3 racecar, with a 4-liter V8 twin-turbo engine, a rigid aluminum spaceframe, an incredibly low center of gravity, state-of-the-art aerodynamics―all the critical elements are in place.

But speed in itself is not everything.
The race is much more than the home straight. The real art is how you control that speed.

In a real-life situation, as our Master Driver, Morizo, likes to say, it all comes down to kaiwa―the conversation between driver and car.

This GR GT3 is a car engineered to give you confidence in all situations.
To feel reassured by that conversation, even at the limits, in the severest of situations.
It's all about the feedback the car gives you to guide you in making split-second decisions.

Fluent communication, knowing how the car will respond so that there are no misunderstandings, bringing out the best in your abilities, so you can push the car and yourself even further.

The GR GT speaks to both types of driver―the professional driver and the recreational driver―whether that is two different people or you and your alter ego.

Now, an integral part of any conversation with a car is sound.
Not only during acceleration, but deceleration and braking.
To understand the importance of this, look no further than 30 minutes' drive from here to Fuji Speedway and the transition from the home straight into the tight first corner.
To brake as late as possible, deeper, faster, and power out with confidence following your ideal line.
This may be the first time we have focused not only on the sound a car makes when you put your foot down, but also the visceral, guttural sound when you take your foot off.

But the conversation you have on an ordinary street is different.
The GR GT road car, with that same V8 twin-turbo but with hybrid power, shares the DNA of its racing counterpart more than any car we have ever made.
For this, the team worked not only at the limits of a car but at the limits of the development process―production car test drivers working hand in hand with racing drivers.

This is a circuit-ready, everyday driver―wild on a track day, easy to drive around town.
Take it for a stint at the track and stop at a nice restaurant on the way home.
From dynamics all the way down to minute decisions in seating position, this is a car designed to cover all the bases.

Akio loves motorsports.
In a race team, there's no hierarchy.
When it comes down to it, everyone is in the pits together.
These three cars will work as a team to bring the emotion of driving to both veteran racers and new generations of car lovers.

Whether it's the V8 twin-turbo in the GR GT3 or the hybrid version in the GR GT, both running on conventional fuel or e-fuel, or an electric future in the LFA, these cars represent a commitment to keep the joy of driving at the limits of human capabilities alive for the next generation.
Nurturing technology and people to create a new era of driving euphoria―just as Naruse-san brought his wisdom from the Toyota 2000GT to the LFA and passed it on to a new generation of test drivers.

Ladies and gentlemen, over the last 14 years, not only Lexus and GR but all Toyota Group brands have undergone a transformation.
The emotional side has come back to the company.
Whether that's in terms of driving dynamics, engineering, production, or my field of design, there has been a fundamental change in the company mindset.

How a car looks and how a car feels―it's all subjective.
But in the pits, as one team with Akio as Master Driver, we have the license to do what needs to be done to translate each car's story into reality.
And even though he's pushing 70, this year Akio Toyoda went back to where it all began 20 years ago, driving in the Nürburgring 24 Hours.
And I can guarantee one thing:
With these three cars in front of him, he will not be able to stay away for many more years to come.
Equally, there was no way he could miss the chance to be here today.

Ladies and gentlemen, Akio Toyoda!

Presentation by Akio Toyoda, Chairman of the Board of Directors (Representative Director)

Thirty years ago, it was Naruse-san and me, just the two of us, who were into car-making.

Little by little, like-minded members joined the effort, and, finally, when the LFA was completed, Naruse-san, in a big smile that I had never seen before, said, "It's the first time I was able to drive Nürburgring just looking ahead."

Until then, we were constantly being overtaken by other cars, and now we had a car to overtake others.
I could feel how truly happy he was.

That didn't mean that humiliation went away.
The LFA went into volume production, but it was a limited volume production.
We started to win races, but it was about becoming first rank in class.
There were still many, many cars that were faster than us.

I could hear people saying, "No way that you guys at Toyota could build a car like this!"
I will never forget that feeling of humiliation.

And that pain is definitely the force that drives me even now.

And one day, 15 years ago, suddenly, I inherited the role of master driver.
Naruse-san left me with the "secret sauce" for making cars―the "sauce" we made from our pain of humiliation.
There was another thing that he left me, which was a few colleagues who shared that agony.

We used that pain and frustration as our driving force and continued our focus on simply making ever-better cars.
The GR86, GR Supra, GR Yaris, GR Corolla...
The hydrogen engine, Super Taikyu, the Nürburgring...
And now these cars...

At today's Toyota, I now have so many like-minded colleagues who are making cars with a shared conviction!

To these colleagues, I want to entrust our car-making endeavor, and I want to work together with them to make cars so that our "secret sauce" can be passed on to future generations.
And I hope that you can continue to count on us to keep you excited.

My life has been a continuation of battles. And the role that I found through those battles is to be the last person to protect the others―not my role as president or chairman, but to make sure that my colleagues can evacuate to a safe place, so that they will be able to hone their skills and be able to fight back even stronger.

I'm the one who will protect them, so to make sure that they will be able to have that environment, Morizo will continue and stay up and running until I fall down.

Thank you so much for coming today.